Starting A New Life
by Elenillor
Summary: A series of vignettes on Andromeda, and how she adjusts to living as a Tonks, and not a Black.
1. Learning to Trust

"I'm fat."

Ted looked up from his book, eyes landing on his wife and smiling. "You're beautiful," he corrected her as she stared at herself in the mirror. He set his book aside and stood, going to her and wrapping his arms around her, gently placing his hands over her stomach.

"She's going to be beautiful. Just like you."

Andromeda nodded, but said nothing. The thought going through her mind was that if their baby looked like her, she would also look like Sirius, which wouldn't be horrible. But she would also look like Bellatrix, and Ande wasn't sure she wanted that tie back to her family.

"Are you regretting it?" Ted asked after a long silence.

"No," she answered honestly. "I'm just worried. I'm scared for you."

He nodded sympathetically. "Because of what happened at the wedding?"

They locked eyes in the mirror, and Andromeda pulled away from him, moving to make the bed he had just gotten out of.

"Ande, I'm sorry," he said, sighing. It had been a while since Narcissa's wedding, and Andromeda refused to talk about it, or anything that had happened there, including whatever threats her family may have thrown at her. Just after Narcissa and Malfoy left the reception, Andromeda has declared to the Blacks that she had eloped with him, a muggleborn, and Ted could only imagine the aftermath of that kind of statement, in front of all the pureblood families present.

And while he was never very fond of any of the Blacks, he knew that they were Ande's family, and he never said anything bad about them. Even when she was negative about them, he would just listen, never giving his opinion.

Andromeda appreciated that. She did notice the very delicate air between them whenever her family was mentioned, and decided that it was just best to mention them as little as possible. If they could disown her, she could disown them and forget them, right?

She knew she didn't regret what she had, but then why did she feel like she had regrets?

"Ande, please talk to me," Ted asked, turning Andromeda away from the sheets on the bed and holding her.

She leaned into him and cried.


	2. No Regrets

She didn't know how to make him believe that she didn't regret it. But 17 years was a long time to try and erase from your life.

What she was slowly coming to realize is that while she was no longer considered a Black, she couldn't just stop _being_ a Black. For so long, it was how she, and everyone else, had defined her. She still had the temper, the stubborn determination, a slight disdain for anything less than perfect.

"What's it like?" He asked her, breaking into her thoughts.

"What's what like?"

"Being a Black." He turned his head and looked at her, shrugging as if to say, 'I'm just curious.' He explained himself. "I know what it's like looking at your family and knowing what they mean to the wizarding world. Having people bend over backwards to please you. But what's it like from the inside?"

What did she say to that? How did she explain that it wasn't wonderful, even for those who followed the family path? "It's not really all that glamorous. We have to go through a lot to get people to please us, and then we know it's only because of our name. People have all these preconceived notions about you based on your family. It's better from the outside."

"You don't know what the outside's like." It was Ande's turn to look at him in silence.

After a moment, she shrugged. "It doesn't matter. Anything has to be better than on the inside."

"You think so?"

"You think otherwise?"

"Maybe," he admitted. "I can't really say, can I? But it wasn't always pleasant from the outside."

Andomeda smiled. "It's pleasant in the middle. With you. Why did you ever even talk to me, Ted?"

"Because I like to think I'm a good judge of character."


	3. Memories

Ande watched as Ted left the room, kissing her briefly before explaining he'd be out for a bit. She smiled and nodded, telling him to be careful. She always told him to be careful.

When she heard the front door open and close, her smile lingered. Being with Ted made her happy in a way she had never experienced growing up. He made her feel like just maybe, everything was going to be all right.

As she moved through the small house picking up Ted's messes (if there was one thing about Ted that would be her undoing, it was his messiness) she came across a small framed picture of herself and Sirius as young children, and a smiling Uncle Alphard.

She stopped and fingered the photo, smiling at the memories it brought back. She remembered the day clearly. Alphard had taken the two of them to a muggle amusement park. Neither of their parents had been entirely pleased when they found out, but it was a day both she and Sirius would always remember as one of the few happy days of their childhood.

She remembered the cotton candy, and how she swore they used magic to make it. She remembered sitting on a bench with her uncle while Sirius went inside this ride that spun really fast. Alphard had wanted to go on it too, but Andromeda refused, convinced that it would come off of its hinges. So her uncle sat outside with her, his arm around her tiny shoulders.

_"You're not like them, Ande," he said._

_"What do you mean?"_

_"You were meant for greater things. You and Sirius both. I can see it in you." He turned and gave her a warm smile that her own father would have never given her. "Promise me that when they try to keep you down, you'll fight them."_

_"I promise," she answered._

Being eight years old, she wouldn't understand the weight of her promise until years later.

"What do you think, Uncle Alphie? Are you proud of how we turned out?"

The man in the photo smiled and winked.


End file.
